Investigative Journalist in Houston, Texas
What is the function of journalism? How hard is it to become a journalist? Why is it so important? Find answers from a real journalist.
Tony Rogers at About.com wrote a good post on why journalists should make their own Web sites, and yours truly was one of the reporters mentioned. Tony did a nice job laying out the benefits of publishing a portfolio of your best work. He found some horror stories of reporters losing years of work because … Read more
Cow poo pens from Angela Grant on Vimeo. Angela Grant, the first full-time video guru at the San Antonio Express-News, gave me some fantastic tips for anyone who wants to improve their skills in shooting and editing video. If you’re tired of uploading shaky cell phone clips to YouTube, these pointers are for you. Angela … Read more
View more news videos at: http://www.nbcdfw.com/video. It had been a long time since I last heard from John Putnam. I met him in person once when we attended a court hearing at an old, eerily quiet courthouse in Llano, Texas, but we’ve had countless conversations by phone. And when the phone rang at my desk … Read more
Glenda Wolin, who edits a pair of medical writers for the San Antonio Express-News, wrote a useful blog post debunking a viral e-mail about the swine flu that originated in New Braunfels, Texas, which is in our backyard. Wolin wrote: With something as unknown and frightening as swine flu, many people send e-mails and post … Read more
Last week military reporter Scott Huddleston and I covered the story of Capt. Michael Fontana, a nurse who has been charged by the Air Force of killing three patients at Wilford Hall Medical Center in San Antonio. This is Military City, USA, and there’s lots of interest in the case and concern about it. Here … Read more
Final Edition from Matthew Roberts on Vimeo. The same week the San Antonio Express-News cut nearly a third of its newsroom, one of Denver’s daily newspapers, the Rocky Mountain News, closed its doors forever. You might ask, as some readers have, so what? Newspapers are far from perfect. But I’ll let Laura Frank, an investigative … Read more
Express-News Reporter Guillermo Garcia broke a story last week about a confidential city plan to sell La Villita and Market Square. The plan disturbed some city councilmembers, who told Guillermo about a closed-door meeting in which the deal was discussed: Inner-city Councilwoman Mary Alice Cisneros was put on the defensive this week after revelations that … Read more
When Rob Huesca saw me last night at Liberty Bar, where I had just finished my weekly dose of tasty lamb burger for the evening, he announced he had figured out this whole “how to save newspapers” quandary that has gripped the media industry for the last few decades or so. By the end of … Read more
A fire that engulfed the San Pedro Apartments on Tuesday was probably caused by an overloaded electrical outlet. But tenants complained the old building wasn’t well maintained, which raised questions about any past Code Compliance violations issued by city inspectors. San Antonio’s Code Compliance Department has a Web site where you can plug in the … Read more
Reporter Greg Jefferson wrote a story in today’s paper that examined how taxpayer money is being spent on salaries and overtime for San Antonio’s 10,000 city employees. The story looks at the city’s highest-paid employees, and explains why $13 million in overtime went to the Fire Department and many of its dispatchers. This information was … Read more